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February 2025 Chains Report: Correction Shakes, Innovation Stands

Footprint Analytics — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 06:41:41 +0000

Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Chains Research Page

February 2025 brought a sharp market correction across the blockchain space, challenging both veteran networks and newcomers alike. Bitcoin held firm with growing dominance, yet most chains — Solana, Avalanche, and Ethereum included — saw steep declines. Even so, development didn’t slow: Berachain’s mainnet debut, Base’s infrastructure upgrades, and Uniswap’s Layer 2 rollout stood out as highlights. This pullback exposed a divide between platforms with solid foundations and those faltering after early hype.

Market Overview

February delivered a stark correction: Bitcoin dropped 14.8% from $98,768 to $84,177, while Ethereum fell harder, down 27.7% from $3,065 to $2,216. The final week saw intensified selling as security fears rattled nerves.

Source: Footprint Analytics - BTC Price & ETH Price

This followed January’s bullish run but hit a wall with mixed signals. Investors grappled with optimism from regulatory clarity and jitters from a massive security breach. Market sentiment soured as risk appetite waned, especially in speculative corners like memecoins. Globally, North America showed cautious optimism due to policy shifts, while Asia-Pacific markets felt the hack’s ripple effects more acutely.

Regulatory and Policy Updates

The Trump administration’s crypto executive order, spotlighting self-custody and stablecoin growth, offered a rare dose of clarity. Yet, the mood shifted after the February 21 ByBit hack—$1.5 billion lost, the biggest in crypto history—sparked fresh security concerns. Meanwhile, the SEC softened its stance, halting probes into players like Coinbase, Binance, and Uniswap and dropping its “dealer rule” appeal. The bipartisan GENIUS (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins) Act further bolstered stablecoin frameworks, signaling a friendlier U.S. regulatory horizon.

Investor behavior mirrored this turbulence. The memecoin frenzy, spiked by a token tied to Argentina’s Javier Milei and soured by promotional scandals, saw valuations tank and trading thin out. This shift hinted at a broader retreat from high-risk assets.

Layer 1

Layer 1 chains took a hit, with total market cap sliding 20.8% to $2.3 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance rose from 71.3% to 74.2%, while Ethereum’s share shrank from 14.0% to 11.9%. BNB Chain edged up to 3.7%, but Solana slipped from 4.0% to 3.3% after a 36.3% price drop.

Litecoin bucked the trend, up 1.0% to $128.7, while Solana (-36.3%), Avalanche (-35.7%), and others lagged.

Source: Footprint Analytics - Chain Token Market Cap and Price

DeFi TVL fell 18.9% to $84.0 billion, with Ethereum at $44.9 billion (down 21.7%) and Solana at $8.6 billion (down 34.1%).

Berachain burst onto the scene, hitting sixth place with $4.5 billion TVL post its February 6 mainnet launch. Distributing 80 million BERA tokens, this “EVM-identical” chain uses a proof-of-liquidity model — think staking with a twist, turning liquidity into network security. After a $100 million raise in 2024, its airdrop and governance perks fueled buzz. Unlike traditional proof-of-stake, this approach could redefine how chains balance growth and stability, making Berachain a name to watch.

Solana’s memecoin wave cooled off. High-profile flops, like Milei’s token, dented confidence, slashing DEX volumes on platforms like Raydium. While memecoins won’t vanish — think digital trading cards — their peak frenzy may be fading, with traders eyeing fundamentals over hype.

Bitcoin Layer 2 & Sidechain

Bitcoin’s L2 and sidechain TVL shrank 24.5% to $2.1 billion from $2.7 billion. Core led with $455.9 million (down 42.0%), followed by Bitlayer ($354.7 million) and BSquared ($319.8 million). BOB shone with just a 7.9% dip to $218.5 million.

Source: Footprint Analytics - Bitcoin Layer 2s & Sidechains TVL

Among mid-tier platforms, Merlin stood out with a modest 9.3% decline to $149.9 million TVL. Smaller players struggled more, with SatoshiVM hit hardest at a 31.5% drop, trailed by MAP Protocol (-29.6%) and Interlay (-27.4%).

Source: Footprint Analytics - Bitcoin Layer 2s & Sidechains TVL

The sector’s slump aligns with Stacks co-founder Muneeb Ali’s take at Consensus 2025: “More than two-thirds of the existing Bitcoin layer-2 projects will cease to exist within three years as their initial excitement fades.” He flagged a tough market ahead, and February’s quiet updates suggest consolidation’s begun. Looking forward, platforms proving real utility may outlast those riding momentum alone.

Ethereum Layer 2

Ethereum L2 TVL dropped 23.4% to $14.0 billion. Arbitrum held the lead at $4.5 billion (down 33.4%), but Base climbed to second with $4.2 billion (down 10.6%), nudging Optimism ($2.1 billion) to third. Polygon zkEVM soared 104.1% to $301.0 million, a rare bright spot.

Source: Footprint Analytics - Ethereum Layer 2 Overview

Base rolled out Flashblocks (faster confirmations), Appchains (custom L3s), and Smart Wallet Sub Accounts — moves to keep users hooked. Unichain’s mainnet launch on February 16, after a testnet handling 95 million transactions, positions it as a scalability game-changer, with heavyweights like Circle onboard. Starknet’s Nums app-chain, a layer-3 gaming twist, showcases modular design’s future.

Meanwhile, Sonic EVM, though not an Ethereum L2, caught attention with its February 27 Mobius mainnet launch as Solana’s first SVM chain extension, boasting 10,000 TPS and drawing $47.6 million to Aave in just days. These steps signal L2s doubling down on tech over market noise.

Vitalik Buterin weighed in on February 19, stressing Ethereum needs a sharper identity amid rising competition. He’s pushed L2s to lead on scalability — think 17x transaction boosts — and interoperability, noting their shift from “glorified multisigs” to robust networks. On Sonic EVM, he hasn’t commented directly, but its EVM compatibility and speed echo his vision for a seamless “Ethereum-verse.” Still, he’s hinted at frustration with the ecosystem’s casino-like tendencies, urging a focus on real value over speculative fluff.

Investment & Funding

Funding slowed with six deals totaling $32.4 million. Mango Network nabbed $13.5 million for its EVM-MoveVM hybrid, eyeing a Q1 2025 launch. Fluent Labs scored $8 million for a multi-VM L2 bridging Ethereum and Solana.

Chains Funding Events in February 2025 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info）

Data for this report was obtained from Footprint Analytics’ Chains Research Page, an easy-to-use dashboard containing the most vital stats and metrics to understand the public chain industry, updated in real-time.

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About Footprint Analytics

Footprint Analytics is a comprehensive blockchain data analytics platform that simplifies complex analysis for businesses and projects in the Web3 ecosystem. It offers tailored solutions that eliminate the need for extensive expertise and infrastructure maintenance. The platform provides long-term growth tools designed to help build and manage communities step by step, emphasizing sustainable growth and user loyalty. By combining powerful analytics with community management tools, Footprint Analytics enables projects to leverage blockchain data effectively for decision-making and growth strategies across various sectors including GameFi, NFT, and DeFi.

January 2025 Chains Report: Market Realignment as Bitcoin Dominance

Footprint Analytics — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 04:52:57 +0000

January 2025 Chains Report

Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Chains Research Page

January saw total market capitalization grow 7.2% to $2.8 trillion, despite mixed performance across major networks. While Bitcoin strengthened its market dominance to 71.3%, emerging platforms showed resilience amid shifting market sentiment influenced by new regulatory developments and technological breakthroughs in AI infrastructure.

Market Overview

Starting at $94,577, Bitcoin closed the month at $102,180, posting an 8.0% gain. Meanwhile, Ethereum showed relative weakness, declining 1.8% from $3,353 to $3,292, leading to its lowest ETH/BTC ratio since September 2024.

Source: BTC Price & ETH Price

The memecoin sector experienced extraordinary volatility following the launch of $TRUMP and $MELANIA tokens on Solana. This surge in speculative activity notably diverted attention and capital from other crypto sectors, including blockchain gaming.

Technological developments also shaped market dynamics, particularly following DeepSeek's breakthrough in artificial intelligence. This advancement accelerated interest in decentralized AI infrastructure within the crypto ecosystem, with AI-related tokens seeing an increase during the month.

Layer 1

January 2025 saw total blockchain market capitalization climb 7.2% to $2.8 trillion, with Bitcoin strengthening its market dominance to 71.3%. Ethereum's share continued its downward trend to 14.0%, while Solana solidified its position ahead of BNB Chain, capturing 4.0% market share compared to BNB Chain's 3.4%. The remaining chains collectively accounted for 7.4% of the market.

Source: Chain Token Market Cap and Price

Solana continued its span performance with a 22.0% increase in market cap to $112.3 billion, cementing its position as the third-largest blockchain by market capitalization.

Among the top 20 chains, Stellar showed notable strength with a significant market cap increase to $12.6 billion, while Litecoin and Monero posted impressive gains of 23.5% and 21.6% respectively. Cardano demonstrated resilience with an 11.9% increase in market cap to $33.2 billion.

Emerging platforms maintained their momentum, with Sui holding steady around $12.4 billion market cap despite increased competition. TON experienced a moderate decline of 14.0% to $12.0 billion market cap, though maintaining its position among the top 10 chains. Hedera showed promising growth with a 14.2% increase to $11.7 billion market cap.

Traditional Layer 1 platforms like Polkadot, Near, and Aptos faced modest pressure, with market caps declining between 3.7% and 7.5%.

Bitcoin Layer 2 & Sidechain

January 2025 saw Bitcoin Layer 2s and sidechains maintain their growth trajectory, with total TVL reaching $2.6 billion, marking a 5.2% increase from December.

Source: Bitcoin Layer 2s & Sidechains TVL

Core maintained its position as market leader with $655.1 million TVL, though experiencing a 9.3% decline from December. Despite this pullback, Core commanded 25.3% of the market share. Bitlayer strengthened its position with a 15.2% increase to $433.6 million TVL (16.8% market share), while BSquared showed impressive momentum with a 19.7% surge to $396.9 million TVL (15.3% market share).

Rootstock and BOB rounded out the top five, with TVLs of $245.7 million and $237.2 million respectively, both showing healthy growth of 10.8% and 8.9%. Notably, AILayer emerged as a significant player, achieving 13.2% growth to reach $226.9 million TVL.

Source: Bitcoin Layer 2s & Sidechains TVL

Among mid-tier platforms, Merlin experienced a modest 3.7% decline to $165.3 million TVL, while Stacks maintained steady growth with a 4.0% increase to $120.8 million. Smaller platforms showed mixed results, with BounceBit achieving 7.3% growth while newer entrants like SatoshiVM and Naka faced declines of 11.6% and 14.9% respectively.

Ethereum Layer 2

January 2025 brought notable shifts in the Ethereum Layer 2 landscape, with total TVL reaching $18.3 billion, marking a 6.7% decrease from December. The ecosystem witnessed significant redistribution of capital as market leaders showed divergent performances.

Source: Ethereum Layer 2 Overview- Rollups (Canonically Bridged)

Arbitrum maintained its leadership position with $6.8 billion TVL despite a substantial 20.4% decline from December. Base continued its impressive trajectory, growing 14.0% to reach $4.6 billion TVL and solidifying its second-place position. Optimism held steady in third place with $3.0 billion TVL, showing minimal change with a 0.5% decrease.

Among the top performers, World Chain demonstrated remarkable growth with a 27.6% increase to $353.8 million TVL, while Paradex surged 50.3% to $37.2 million. ZK Rollups showed resilience, with Starknet and zkSync Era growing by 7.4% and 12.2% respectively, reaching $900.9 million and $611.1 million TVL.

Notable challenges faced some established platforms, with Blast experiencing a 33.8% decline to $400.8 million TVL and Fuel dropping 47.3% to $113.8 million. Linea and Scroll also saw modest decreases of 5.7% and 5.2% respectively.

The ecosystem's competitive dynamics continued to evolve, with optimistic rollups and ZK rollups showing varying levels of success. Newer entrants like Metal joined the landscape, while established platforms focused on consolidating their market positions through enhanced functionality and user experience improvements.

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About Footprint Analytics

January 2025 Web3 Game Report: Sector Declines Amid Broader Market Gains

Footprint Analytics — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 07:30:05 +0000

January 2025 Web3 Game Report

Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Games Research Page

As broader crypto markets showed strength, the gaming sector faced notable pressure with its market cap declining 19.3% to $22.3 billion. The month was defined by platform consolidation, with TON securing exclusive rights for Telegram's blockchain infrastructure and LINE launching its Mini Dapps ecosystem through Kaia.

Monthly Market Review

Major policy developments significantly influenced the crypto market's trajectory. The Trump administration's executive order on cryptocurrency regulation provided unprecedented clarity for the industry, particularly emphasizing the protection of self-custody rights and support for stablecoin development. However, market sentiment was tempered in the final week as new international trade tariffs raised concerns about global economic growth.
The memecoin sector experienced extraordinary volatility following the launch of $TRUMP and $MELANIA tokens on Solana. This surge in speculative activity notably diverted attention and capital from other crypto sectors, including blockchain gaming.
Technological developments also shaped market dynamics, particularly following DeepSeek's breakthrough in artificial intelligence. This advancement accelerated interest in decentralized AI infrastructure within the crypto ecosystem, with AI-related tokens seeing an increase during the month.

Web3 Game Market

January 2025 saw the Web3 gaming sector face headwinds despite broader crypto market strength. The market cap of blockchain game tokens fell 19.3% from $27.6 billion to $22.3 billion.
Source: Web3 Games & Bitcoin Market Cap

On-chain activity metrics reflected similar weakness, with monthly transactions declining 7.2% to $549.2 million and trading volume dropping 12.4% to $234.8 million.
Source: Web3 Game Daily Transactions

TON Foundation's January 21 announcement of exclusive blockchain infrastructure rights for Telegram marks a pivotal shift in the ecosystem. This exclusivity agreement, requiring all Telegram-based applications to migrate to TON within 30 days, has created immediate pressure on projects built on alternative chains. The migration deadline of February 21, while offering incentives for early adopters, poses substantial technical and community challenges for affected games.
LINE's strategic counter-move, launching Mini Dapps and Dapp Portal through LINE NEXT, represents an emerging competitive dynamic in social platform gaming. The initial rollout of 32 Mini Dapps through the Kaia Wave program signals a more controlled, ecosystem-focused approach compared to Telegram's open development environment.
These platform-level changes, combined with declining market metrics, indicate the Web3 gaming sector is entering a period of consolidation where platform alignment and user experience may take precedence over token economics. The approaches of Telegram and LINE could significantly influence how blockchain games approach user acquisition and retention strategies through 2025.

Web3 Game Chains

January 2025 saw continued evolution in the blockchain gaming landscape, with active games reaching 1,697, a modest 1.4% increase from December. The traditional market leaders maintained their positions in game distribution: BNB Chain (24.2%), Polygon (15.6%), and Ethereum (13.1%). However, this stability in game distribution contrasts sharply with significant shifts in on-chain activity.
Transaction activity showed notable concentration, with three chains dominating the landscape. Wax led with 178.1 million transactions, representing 32.4% of all gaming activity. opBNB followed with 87.2 million transactions (15.9% share), while Aptos recorded 37.5 million transactions (6.8% share). Together, these three chains accounted for over 55% of all gaming transactions in January.
Source: Transactions by Chain

Trading volume revealed a different competitive landscape, with Aptos emerging as the leader at $51.9 million (22.1% share), followed closely by Ronin at $49.5 million (21.1% share). ImmutableX secured the third position with $19.0 million in volume (8.1% share).
Source: Trading Volume by Chain

The competition for developer mindshare intensified in January, with chains launching aggressive incentive programs. Sonic SVM and Galaxy Interactive's multi-million dollar fund targets the intersection of Web3 gaming and AI, reflecting growing interest in AI-enhanced gaming experiences. Meanwhile, Ronin Network's $10 million grant program represents a strategic pivot beyond gaming-exclusive focus, expanding into consumer applications and DeFi protocols to create a more comprehensive ecosystem.

Investment and Funding

January 2025 saw Web3 gaming investment activity continue its downward trend, with $31.2 million raised across 6 funding events. The reduced funding activity reflects broader market dynamics. This surge in speculative activity notably diverted attention and capital from other crypto sectors, including blockchain gaming.
Web3 Gaming Funding Events in January 2025 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info）

Pixion Games led the month's funding activity, securing $4 million in a strategic round led by Delphi Ventures, with participation from Spartan Capital, Sky Mavis, and Animoca Brands. The studio's flagship title, Fableborne, represents an evolution in mobile Web3 gaming by combining ARPG mechanics with strategic base-building elements. The game's success on Ronin has attracted particular attention. Other notable game funding events included Drift Zone, BeraTone and Nakamoto Games.
Infrastructure development remained a key focus for investors, with two significant raises: ZKcandy secured $4 million for its gaming-focused Layer 2 chain powered by ZKsync, following successful completion of its open testnet phase. Hyve Labs raised $2.75 million to develop its core infrastructure, such as launching its testnet chain, first game and other on-chain assets.

Data for this report was obtained from Footprint’s Games Research page, a real-time dashboard with comprehensive and trusted Web3 game stats. Please contact us if you notice any chain or game not included and would like it integrated. You can also submit contracts here.

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About Footprint Analytics
Footprint Analytics is a comprehensive blockchain data analytics platform that simplifies complex analysis for businesses and projects in the Web3 ecosystem. It offers tailored solutions that eliminate the need for extensive expertise and infrastructure maintenance. The platform provides long-term growth tools designed to help build and manage communities step by step, emphasizing sustainable growth and user loyalty. By combining powerful analytics with community management tools, Footprint Analytics enables projects to leverage blockchain data effectively for decision-making and growth strategies across various sectors including GameFi, NFT, and DeFi.
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Web3 Gaming in 2024: Sidelined in the Crypto Boom?

Footprint Analytics — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 10:21:49 +0000

Web3 gaming painted a complex picture in 2024, facing both significant achievements and notable challenges. While daily active users surged over 300% to reach 6.58 million and traditional gaming companies made concrete moves into the space, the sector underperformed in market performance, increasing its market cap by 60.5% and significantly trailing behind memecoins and AI projects. As Bitcoin approached new highs and various crypto sectors flourished, a crucial question emerged: Has Web3 gaming lost its position as a key driver of crypto adoption?

Yet beneath these surface metrics, 2024 marked a crucial transition year. The industry evolved beyond pure speculation. This report analyzes how Web3 gaming matured through market cycles in 2024, examining the sector's key metrics, technological advancements, and strategic shifts. From infrastructure development to user engagement patterns, we explore how the industry is building toward sustainable growth while navigating the challenges of mainstream adoption.

Note: Unless otherwise specified, all data in this report reflects market activity through December 15, 2024. Data was sourced from Footprint Analytics and CoinMarketCap.

I. Key Metrics Snapshot

Market Cap: Reached $31.8 billion, up 60.5% YoY.
Trading Volume: $5.2 billion total, up 18.5% YoY.
Transactions: 5.3 billion total, down 30.3% YoY.
Daily Active Users: 6.6M by year-end, up 308.6% over the year.
Active Games: 1,361 active out of 3,602 total (37.8%).
Annual Funding: $909.4M across 220 funding events.
Chain Leadership:
- Trading Volume: BNB Chain (23.1%), Ethereum (17.6%), Blast (9.2%);
- Transactions: WAX (33.6%), Aptos (11.6%), Ronin (6.1%);
- DAU: opBNB (2.2M), Ronin (1.1M), Nebula (458K) in December.

II. Market Performance Analysis

Market Cap

The Web3 gaming sector showed span growth in 2024 but underperformed compared to other crypto sectors. According to Footprint Analytics, the market cap of gaming tokens reached $31.8 billion by year-end, representing a 60.5% annual increase. While the sector achieved its yearly peak of $47.4 billion in March, this remained significantly below the previous cycle's high of $114.1 billion set in November 2021.

Despite the broader crypto market's span performance in the latter half of 2024, particularly during the Bitcoin-led rally in the final two months, gaming tokens lagged behind other sectors. CoinMarketCap data shows Web3 gaming ranked 8th among the Top 10 Sectors in market cap growth, significantly trailing behind the leading sectors: Memes (421.1%), AI & Big Data (168.0%), and Solana Ecosystem (124.1%).

This underperformance extended to community interest as well. In CoinMarketCap's most viewed sectors, Web3 gaming captured just 6.7% of views, ranking 9th among Top 10 sectors, as attention focused primarily on memecoin and AI-related projects throughout the year.

Trading Volume & Transaction Patterns

The Web3 gaming sector showed mixed performance across key metrics in 2024, with significant growth in trading volume but continued decline in transaction counts.

Trading Volume Trend

The total trading volume of Web3 gaming in 2024 reached $5.2 billion, representing an 18.5% increase from 2023's figure. While this reversed the downward trend since 2021, volume remained significantly below previous cycle highs. The 2024 figure represented only 6.2% of 2021's peak ($84.1 billion) and 15.1% of 2022's volume ($34.5 billion).

Transactions Trend

Total transactions in 2024 reached 5.3 billion, marking a 30.3% decrease from the previous year. This level was comparable to 2021's 5.1 billion transactions, but continued the declining trend that began in 2022.

User Engagement

Daily active users (DAU) grew substantially throughout 2024, from 1.6 million in January to 6.6 million in December, representing a 308.6% increase over the year. This growth surpassed the previous cycle's peak of 1.8 million DAU in November 2021. While these figures likely include some bot activities, the significant increase still demonstrates a remarkable recovery from the post-2021 decline.

III. Ecosystem Development

A. Chain Competition and Evolution

Leading Chains Performance Analysis

The Web3 gaming landscape saw significant shifts in chain dominance across different metrics in 2024, with distinct leaders emerging in trading volume, transactions, and user engagement.

Trading Volume by Chain

BNB Chain maintained its dominance in trading volume, securing $1.2 billion (23.1% market share), followed by Ethereum with $915.4 million (17.6%). Notably, Blast and Ronin captured significant market share at 9.2% and 9.0% respectively.

Transactions by Chain

Despite the industry's 30.3% decrease in overall transactions, certain chains demonstrated span performance. WAX led with 1.8 billion transactions (33.6% of total). Aptos emerged as a significant player with 616.2 million transactions (11.6%), notably driven by its "tap-to-earn" Telegram game Tapos, which generated 540.3 million transactions in August alone. Ronin and opBNB maintained steady transaction volumes with 321.2 million and 317.9 million transactions respectively.

DAU by Chain

User activity showed remarkable growth, particularly in the latter half of 2024. opBNB emerged as the leader in user engagement, reaching 2.2 million average DAU in December and overtaking the long-standing leader Ronin, which maintained 1.1 million average DAU. Nebula, a SKALE Layer 2, established itself as a span contender with 458K average DAU. The rise of chains like NEAR, Sui, and Sei into the top 10 by DAU demonstrates the ecosystem's expanding competitive landscape and users' willingness to engage with newer platforms.

This diversification of chain usage suggests a maturing ecosystem where different chains are finding their niches in supporting various types of gaming experiences and user preferences. Major networks now act as hubs for game developers that go far beyond basic blockchain infrastructure.

The Arbitrum Foundation's $200 million ARB Gaming Catalyst Program, Starknet Foundation's 50 million STRK token distribution initiative, and significant grant programs from Sui and Xai demonstrate how chains are competing to attract and retain quality gaming projects through strategic incentives.

Technical Infrastructure Improvements

Growing Capacity

Blockchain capacity is growing significantly, with networks processing more than 50 times as many transactions per second compared to four years ago. This growth is driven by the rise of Ethereum Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks, including Immutable zkEVM, gaming chains running on top of Avalanche, Oasys, SKALE, Arbitrum Orbit, and other high-throughput blockchains including Solana, Sui, and Aptos.

Gaming-focused infrastructure saw major developments. Ronin announced its Layer 2 plan Ronin zkEVM in June 2024, which will enable Ronin builders to create their own zkEVM Layer 2s on Ronin. Immutable zkEVM made a strategic move toward greater accessibility by removing its Deployer Allowlist and enabling Permissionless Deployment. Additionally, Avalanche completed its Avalanche9000 upgrade, addressing the platform's most significant limitations since its 2020 mainnet launch. This upgrade focused on reducing barriers to building customizable L1s and improving interoperability.

Lowering Gas Fees

A major milestone was Ethereum's "Dencun" upgrade (also called "Proto-Danksharding" or “EIP-4844”) in March 2024, which significantly reduced fees for L2 networks. The impact was substantial, with gas fees dropping from several dollars to several cents or even less than one cent. This reduction eliminated one of the biggest friction points facing blockchain gaming developers and players.

Increasing Cross-chain Interoperability

Chainlink Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) gained significant traction in 2024, enabling developers to create games that can interact with assets from multiple chains. This enhancement significantly improved the interoperability of in-game items.

The adoption of standardized formats for digital assets, particularly ERC-721 and ERC-1155, has become more widespread. These standards ensure in-game NFTs can be recognized and utilized across various games and platforms, streamlining asset transfers and interactions.

2024 also saw the notable rise of decentralized platforms supporting cross-chain gaming. Platforms like Portal, Fractal ID, and Web3Games provide the essential infrastructure for seamless asset transfers and interactions between different blockchain ecosystems.

B. Project Development

2024 marked a significant year for Web3 game launches and developments. Beyond traditional gaming companies' entry, the ecosystem saw several notable releases. Highly anticipated titles like Off The Grid and MapleStory Universe launched in early access, while Illuvium finally released its full version. Proof of Play's Pirate Nation successfully executed its Token Generation Event (TGE) and play-to-airdrop campaign.

Active Games Analysis

By November 30, 2024, the total number of blockchain games reached 3,602, showing growth from January's 2,997. However, active game metrics revealed challenging trends. Of the total games, only 1,361 (37.8%) maintained active on-chain users, while 2,241 (62.2%) remained inactive. On top of this, the number of active games decreased from January's 1,387, despite the growth in total games.

A deeper analysis of user engagement metrics shows further concentration in the market. Games with over 100 monthly active users (MAU) decreased from 586 in June 2022 to 522 by 2024 year-end. In November 2024, 161 games (4.5% of total) achieved over 10,000 MAU, with 96 games (2.7% of total) surpassing 100,000 MAU.

This concentration of users suggests a maturing market where successful games are capturing larger audiences, influenced by factors including intense competition, rapid iteration strategies, and the emergence of dominant titles creating a "head effect" in the ecosystem.

C. Innovation Landscape

Cross-Platform Gaming Trends

Mobile gaming established itself as the primary platform for Web3 gaming in 2024, emphasizing accessibility and seamless user experiences. The mobile-first approach has shaped how developers design blockchain games, focusing on intuitive interfaces and simplified onboarding processes, accounting for 29.4% of new launches in 2024.

Social platforms, particularly Telegram, emerged as powerful catalysts for Web3 gaming adoption, comprising 20.9% of new Web3 game launches. Telegram's success stems from its massive user base, simplified in-app experience, and ability to bypass traditional app store restrictions. The platform's impact peaked in Q3 2024, with 11 games surpassing 10 million monthly active users (MAU). Notably, TON successfully converted this massive user base into on-chain participants, creating a spillover effect across Web3 gaming, memecoins, and DeFi sectors. The success prompted multiple blockchain networks beyond TON to compete for Telegram's traffic, with Aptos, Sui, Core, and others launching their own Telegram-based initiatives.

Similarly, Line's announcement to launch 20 mini dApps in December 2024 signals growing interest from mainstream messaging platforms in blockchain gaming integration.

The console gaming sector remained relatively unexplored in Web3 gaming, with major manufacturers Microsoft and Sony maintaining cautious positions. However, new approaches emerged to bridge this gap. Some developers, like Gunzilla Games with Off The Grid, chose to separate core gameplay from blockchain features to align with traditional console gaming expectations. Meanwhile, blockchain platforms began developing their own handheld Web3 gaming consoles, exemplified by Sui’s SuiPlay0X1 and Solana's Play Solana Gen1 (PSG1) announcements, potentially creating a new category of dedicated Web3 gaming devices.

Traditional Gaming Companies' Entry

2024 marked a significant shift in traditional gaming companies' approach to blockchain gaming, with major studios moving from experimental initiatives to concrete launches and strategic developments.
Ubisoft led this transition with the October launch of Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles on Oasys Layer 2 HOME Verse, demonstrating a sophisticated approach to NFT integration in gaming. The tactical RPG implemented a range of NFT-based features while maintaining traditional gaming elements, representing a balanced approach to blockchain integration.

Square Enix strengthened its blockchain presence through strategic investments and partnerships. Beyond investing in gaming platforms Elixir Games and HyperPlay, the company announced plans to bring its Symbiogenesis game to HyperPlay, showing commitment to both development and infrastructure support in the blockchain gaming space.

The involvement of Sony Group signaled a major push into blockchain gaming, both through investment and infrastructure development. While supporting double jump.tokyo Inc.'s $10 million Series D round, Sony also announced Soneium, a Layer 2 network aimed at bridging Web3 innovation with consumer applications across gaming and entertainment sectors.

AI Integration in Game Development

As artificial intelligence (AI) revolutionized various industries in 2024, the Web3 gaming sector emerged as a key beneficiary of AI innovations, opening new opportunities for both game development and player experiences.

AI has revolutionized in-game interactions and content generation. Game studios are leveraging AI to create more sophisticated non-playable characters (NPCs) that can adapt to player behavior and generate personalized quests based on individual player history and preferences. This personalization enhances player engagement by making gameplay experiences more relevant and individualized.
On the development side, AI has significantly streamlined the creation process. Developers are utilizing AI tools to auto-generate game environments and assets, substantially reducing production time and costs. This democratization of game development has enabled smaller teams to create high-quality games that can compete with larger studios.

AI has also enhanced the operational aspects of Web3 gaming. The technology is being employed to automate game testing processes and monitor on-chain transactions for potential fraud or cheating, particularly crucial in games with complex economic systems. Additionally, AI algorithms are helping optimize game economics and token models, addressing one of the fundamental challenges in sustainable Web3 game design.

IV. Investment Landscape

Annual Funding Overview

Web3 gaming secured $909.4 million across 220 funding events in 2024. While funding amount decreased 7.3% from 2023 and remained significantly below the 2021-2022 boom period ($3.2 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively), the number of funding events increased 48.7% from 2023, indicating continued investor interest. despite smaller deal sizes.

The year saw a marked shift toward early-stage investments, with 76 early-stage deals (34.6% of total events) compared to just 20 Series A or later rounds (9.1% of total). This trend suggests that while new projects continue to attract initial funding, many projects from the 2021-2022 boom period are finding it challenging to secure follow-on rounds.

Among investors, Animoca Brands maintained its leadership position with 38 investments, a 192.3% increase from 2023, participating in 17.3% of all 2024 funding events. The Spartan Group and Big Brain Holdings followed with 22 and 15 investments, respectively, with the top 10 investors collectively accounting for 152 investments.

Major Funding Events

The year saw selective but significant funding rounds, with seven projects raising over $20 million in single events. Azra Games led with a $42.7 million Series A round, focusing on bringing console-quality gameplay to mobile platforms.

Looking at cumulative funding, Monkey Tilt secured $51 million across two rounds, leveraging its gaming-entertainment-gambling hybrid model. Gunzilla Games demonstrated span investor confidence by securing four funding rounds from prominent investors including VanEck, Coinbase Ventures, Delphi Ventures, and Avalanche's Blizzard Fund.

Strategic Investment Trends

As the industry matured beyond the exuberance of 2021-2022, the focus has pivoted toward fewer, higher-quality projects, with investors becoming increasingly selective in their approach.
Funding increasingly targeted gaming infrastructure and development tools rather than just games themselves. Notable examples included NPC Labs' $18 million seed round for building Web3 games on Base, and Alliance Games' $5 million Series A for AI-powered decentralized infrastructure. This trend reflects investors' growing interest in foundational technologies that can support multiple games and platforms.

Platform and multi-chain development attracted substantial attention, particularly projects building cross-chain gaming ecosystems. Seeds Labs secured $12 million for its flagship product Bladerite on Solana, while B3's launch of its Open Gaming Layer with Prime Chain demonstrated investors' interest in expanding cross-chain gaming capabilities.

Besides, new gaming categories gained significant investor attention in 2024, particularly Telegram-based gaming initiatives and gambling gaming projects despite regulatory challenges.

V. Industry Evolution and Future Outlook

The Web3 gaming industry witnessed significant evolution in gaming models throughout 2024. The "play-to-earn" model that dominated previous cycles gave way to more sustainable approaches. "Tap-to-earn" games on Telegram demonstrated unprecedented user acquisition capabilities, while "play-to-airdrop" strategies like Pirate Nation and Pixels' campaign offered new user acquisition methods. Meanwhile, established projects shifted toward "play-and-earn" models that prioritize gameplay over financial incentives.

However, the sector faced persistent challenges. Technical barriers remained significant, particularly in achieving seamless blockchain integration without compromising gaming experience. Regulatory uncertainty, especially around gambling features and token classifications, continued to influence development decisions.

Most critically, sustained on-chain engagement emerged as a fundamental concern. This was particularly evident in Telegram games' performance: Hamster Kombat's MAU dropped from over 100 million in September to 22.9 million by mid-December, with only 0.0004% of users engaging in on-chain gaming activities. While other Telegram games showed higher conversion rates, most remained below 1%. It's worth noting that these metrics specifically reflect on-chain gaming activities, as most Telegram games' core gameplay remains off-chain, with users potentially more active in other sectors like memecoins or DeFi. This highlights the persistent challenge of converting platform users into active blockchain gamers.

2025 Outlook: Reclaiming Relevance

As Web3 gaming seeks to reassert its position in the crypto landscape, several key trends emerge as potential catalysts for transformation:

Social platform integration stands as the most promising path to mainstream relevance. The phenomenal success of Telegram-based games has demonstrated the power of meeting users where they are, with platforms like Line and TikTok poised to follow. This approach could finally solve the sector's user acquisition challenges by tapping into established social networks rather than building communities from scratch.

AI integration will evolve from a marketing feature to a fundamental driver of innovation. Beyond enhancing game development and NPC interactions, AI could address the sector's core challenges in economic design and user retention - areas where Web3 gaming has traditionally struggled to compete with traditional gaming experiences.

Sustainable growth through integration may ultimately determine the sector's relevance. Success will likely come not from competing with traditional gaming or other crypto sectors, but from seamlessly blending with them. This means focusing on how blockchain can enhance gaming experiences rather than define them, developing more sophisticated token economics, and prioritizing user experience over crypto-native features.

The path forward suggests that Web3 gaming's role in the crypto ecosystem may be less about dominance and more about integration - creating genuine value by bridging the gaps between traditional gaming, social platforms, and blockchain technology. This evolution could help the sector move beyond being just another crypto vertical to becoming an essential layer in the future of gaming.

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This is a joint report by Footprint Analytics and CoinMarketCap Research.

About Footprint Analytics

About CoinMarketCap

CoinMarketCap is the world’s most-referenced price-tracking website for crypto assets in the rapidly growing cryptocurrency space. Its mission is to make crypto discoverable and efficient globally by empowering retail users with unbiased, high quality and accurate information for drawing their own informed conclusions.

CoinMarketCap Research aims to leverage CMC’s data analysis and bring unique insights into the crypto market. We look to collaborate with other industry-leading voices and create a platform for people to learn and share their passion for crypto.

Blockchain Landscape 2024: From Infrastructure Competition to Application Innovation

Footprint Analytics — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 07:45:54 +0000

Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Chains Research Page

2024 marked a watershed year for the blockchain industry as it evolved from technical competition to practical implementation. While market capitalization surged 105.3% to $2.8 trillion and Bitcoin surpassed $100,000, the ecosystem's true transformation lay in its strategic development. Bitcoin's institutional adoption through ETFs, Ethereum's Layer 2 expansion reaching 200 chains, and Bitcoin Layer 2's extraordinary 1,277.6% TVL growth demonstrated the industry's shift from technological experimentation to real-world utility. This evolution signaled blockchain's maturation into an infrastructure driven by application needs rather than pure technical advancement.

Note: Unless otherwise specified, all data in this report reflects market activity through December 20, 2024.

Market Metrics: Growth and Transformation

The blockchain sector achieved unprecedented growth in 2024, marked by significant expansion across multiple metrics.

Total market capitalization surged 105.3% to reach $2.8 trillion. Bitcoin dominance increased to 69.8%, while Ethereum's share declined from 20.4% to 15.2%. BNB Chain and Solana maintained relatively stable positions with 3.5% and 3.3% respectively, while other platforms comprised 8.1% of the market.

The DeFi sector demonstrated robust growth in 2024, with total value locked (TVL) reaching $102.8 billion by year-end, marking an 88.6% increase. Among the top 10 chains by TVL, Bitcoin and TON led the expansion with remarkable TVL increases exceeding 2,000%, while Aptos, Sui and Solana showed span momentum with gains of 754.4%, 677.1% and 321.3% respectively. However, this growth was not universal across all major chains, as both Tron and Avalanche experienced declines in their TVL.

The Ethereum Layer 2 landscape underwent significant consolidation in 2024. Arbitrum maintained leadership with $10.6 billion TVL and 41.1% market share, though declining from its 50.8% dominance in 2023. Base emerged as the breakthrough story, securing second position with $5.8 billion TVL (22.5% share), while Optimism settled into third with $4.0 billion TVL (15.8%). Together, these three platforms consolidated control over 79.1% of Ethereum L2 rollups DeFi TVL, while previous contenders including Blast, zkSync, and Starknet saw declining market shares.
Meanwhile, The ecosystem's expansion was evident with 50 Rollups and 70 Validiums & Optimiums live on mainnet, plus approximately 90 upcoming chains, bringing the total to over 200 chains.

The Bitcoin Layer 2s and sidechains experienced explosive growth, with total TVL reaching $2.6 billion - a remarkable 1,277.6% increase from 2023. Core led the ecosystem with $789.1 million TVL (30.3% share), followed by Bitlayer ($503.5 million, 19.4% share) and BSquared ($330.3 million, 12.7% share). The ecosystem's expansion was evident not only in value but also in diversity, with the number of active chains more than doubling throughout the year.

Competitive Landscape: Leaders and Challengers

In 2024, the blockchain ecosystem witnessed significant shifts in competitive dynamics, marked by Bitcoin's strengthened dominance, Ethereum's strategic pivot, and the emergence of new challengers.

Bitcoin: From Store of Value to Financial Infrastructure

Bitcoin achieved remarkable growth in 2024, with price surging 129.2% and market capitalization growing 131.7%. This growth was catalyzed by institutional adoption through spot ETFs, the April halving event, and favorable post-election sentiment. Beyond reaching the $100,000 milestone, Bitcoin's ecosystem demonstrated fundamental evolution through two key developments:

Institutional Integration: The successful launch of spot ETFs in January revolutionized institutional access, with BlackRock's product reaching $20 billion in assets. Bitcoin surpassed both silver and Saudi Aramco to become the seventh-largest global asset, marking its transition from a speculative asset to a recognized store of value.

BTCfi Emergence: The Bitcoin ecosystem expanded beyond price appreciation through innovative financial products. Babylon's Bitcoin staking program, Solv Protocol's cross-chain solutions, and Core's Fusion Upgrade with Dual Staking demonstrated growing sophistication. Cross-chain functionality advanced through BOB network's Optimism integration and BEVM's "Super Bitcoin" framework, though standardization challenges remain.

Ethereum: Adapting to Layer 2 Reality

2024 marked a pivotal year for Ethereum as it navigated the transition to a Layer 2-centric ecosystem. Despite a 55.8% price increase to $3,744, Ethereum faced complex challenges in redefining its role and maintaining relevance amidst growing Layer 2 adoption. While the successful launch of spot ETFs in July provided institutional validation, Ethereum's price performance notably lagged behind Bitcoin's surge.

The Ethereum mainnet underwent significant changes with the Dencun Upgrade implementation, which successfully reduced Layer 2 costs and improved scalability. However, the increasing migration of activity to Layer 2s impacted base layer fee revenue, prompting discussions about long-term sustainability. The Ethereum Foundation responded with strategic initiatives, including Proto-Danksharding (EIP-4844) implementation, development of cross-L2 communication standards, and enhanced security requirements for Layer 2 solutions.

The Layer 2 ecosystem demonstrated remarkable growth and consolidation throughout the year. Notable new entrants enriched the ecosystem, including World Chain's privacy-focused solution, Uniswap's Unichain announcement, and Sony's entry with Soneium targeting mainstream entertainment applications.

This evolution highlighted Ethereum's transition from a pure execution layer to a settlement and security provider for a diverse Layer 2 ecosystem. While questions remained about revenue models and competitive dynamics, Ethereum's robust developer activity and continued innovation in scaling solutions demonstrated its adaptability.

Solana: The Third Giant

2024 marked Solana's impressive comeback, with a 70.8% price increase and 90.9% market cap growth, reaching a new all-time high above $260 in November. This resurgence began with Jupiter's January airdrop, which catalyzed ecosystem activity. Solana distinguished itself as a hub for retail traders, fostering vibrant meme and DeFi communities. Beyond meme culture, Solana advanced on multiple fronts: restaking protocols, modular Layer 2 solutions, and stablecoin innovations. The ecosystem's expansion through SVM chains like Eclipse, Soon, Atlas, and Sonic further extended its influence.

The Rise of New Forces: TON, Sui & Base

TON: Social Integration Powers Platform Growth

The Open Network(TON) demonstrated remarkable growth in 2024, with Toncoin's price rising 149.6% and market cap increasing 84.3%. TON's success largely stemmed from its deep integration with Telegram, effectively bridging traditional social networking with blockchain technology. The platform's simplified crypto experience through Telegram's wallet functionality and blockchain integration provided millions of users access to games, memes, and DeFi applications, establishing a compelling model for mass adoption.

Sui: Move Language Pioneer to Ecosystem Leader

Sui emerged as a standout performer with extraordinary growth - 461.6% in token price and 1,363.8% in market cap. This success reflected growing confidence in Move language technology and ecosystem development. Sui's focus on DeFi and gaming, including Telegram game integration and the innovative SuiPlay0X1 gaming console development, demonstrated its comprehensive approach to ecosystem growth. The platform's emphasis on user experience and protocol development created positive network effects, attracting both developers and users.

Base: Institutional Backing Drives Rapid Growth

This impressive growth was driven by several key factors. Coinbase's robust support, particularly through its user-friendly smart wallet implementation, significantly lowered entry barriers for mainstream users. The platform gained substantial momentum from successful social applications like friend.tech and Clanker, while the popularity of memecoin initiatives further boosted on-chain activity. The Dencun Upgrade's implementation notably reduced gas fees, making Base increasingly attractive for both developers and users.

Key Themes of 2024

Protocols Are Becoming Chains

2024 witnessed a significant trend of established protocols launching their own blockchains, diversifying the ecosystem across multiple sectors. DeFi giant Uniswap announced Unichain, while gaming platform Treasure DAO developed a ZK-based Layer 2. The NFT space saw Pudgy Penguins launch Abstract, and Web3 platform Galxe introduced Gravity. This trend extended beyond established protocols, with innovative new chains like Monad, Berachain, and HyperLiquid entering the space, reflecting a broader shift toward specialized blockchain infrastructure.

From Exploration to Strategic Integration

Strategic Corporate Implementation

2024 marked a decisive shift from experimental blockchain initiatives to strategic implementation across the enterprise sector. Financial institutions led this transition, with BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF reaching $20 billion and PayPal expanding PYUSD to Solana. Tech giants demonstrated deeper commitment through innovative approaches: Sony launched Soneium for entertainment applications, while Google Cloud expanded its Web3 portal offerings. Infrastructure development saw particular momentum with Circle launching native USDC on Sui and Visa integrating Solana for settlements.

Shifting Investment Paradigms

The blockchain infrastructure sector showed span recovery in 2024, with networks securing $1.7 billion across 174 funding events - a 137.1% increase from 2023. Notably, investment strategy shifted from pure infrastructure plays to application-focused innovation. Early-stage investments comprised 21.4% of total funding, while Series A and B rounds accounted for 31.8%, reflecting a maturing ecosystem. Venture capital's investment thesis evolved significantly, prioritizing user-centric applications over traditional infrastructure development. This was evidenced by substantial investments in consumer-facing projects: Monad's $225 million raise for user experience optimization, and Celestia and Berachain each securing $100 million for application-focused infrastructure.

From Technical Competition to Application Innovation

The blockchain industry experienced a fundamental shift in 2024, moving from a technology-first approach to an application-driven strategy. This transformation challenged the traditional "Build it and they will come" mentality that had dominated previous years. Despite significant advances in technical capabilities, increased capacity didn't directly translate to proportional user growth. Notably, Ethereum's base layer maintained higher user operations per second (UOPS) than most Layer 2s, despite its technical limitations, highlighting the complex relationship between technological capability and actual adoption. This reality prompted a strategic pivot across the ecosystem. Blockchain platforms increasingly focused on identifying specific user needs and building targeted solutions, rather than pursuing pure technical advancement. This "Find them and build for them" approach manifested in several successful initiatives. Social-financial integration emerged as a particularly effective strategy, with TON's Telegram integration and Base's friend.tech demonstrating how familiar social interfaces could drive blockchain adoption. Simplified user experiences through account abstraction and familiar authentication methods significantly reduced entry barriers for mainstream users. The evolution of meme culture in the blockchain space further exemplified this shift toward application-focused development. What began as purely speculative activity evolved into a legitimate user acquisition channel, particularly on platforms like Solana and Base. These networks successfully leveraged meme initiatives to drive ecosystem growth while building sustainable community engagement. The success of these user-centric approaches demonstrated that sustainable growth in the blockchain sector increasingly depends on understanding and serving user needs rather than purely advancing technical capabilities.

Looking Ahead to 2025

As the blockchain industry moves from technical experimentation to practical implementation, 2025 promises to be a year of significant transformation.

Regulatory Clarity

The regulatory environment shows promise for significant improvement, particularly in the US. A clearer regulatory framework is anticipated to benefit the entire sector, potentially including progress on stablecoin legislation. This regulatory clarity should encourage increased institutional participation through regulated products and services, while fostering competition among jurisdictions for thoughtful crypto regulation.

Chain Specialization Trend

Chain specialization emerges as a defining trend, moving away from generic Layer 1 competition toward purpose-built architectures. Application-specific chains and optimized execution environments will gain prominence, supported by enhanced cross-chain infrastructure. The rollup-as-a-service (RaaS) sector is poised for expansion, facilitating easier deployment of customized blockchain solutions for enterprises and protocols alike.

Technical Innovation & AI Integration

Technical advancements will continue to shape the ecosystem, with “Proto-Danksharding” implementation doubling blob capacity and enhanced focus on chain abstraction improving user interfaces. The development of standardized frameworks for cross-chain communication will further streamline interoperability. Meanwhile, AI integration is poised to transform blockchain infrastructure, from improving user interfaces to enabling sophisticated on-chain AI agents and decentralized model training, marking a convergence of two transformative technologies.

Infrastructure Supporting Innovation

2025 will likely see infrastructure development increasingly driven by application needs rather than pure technical advancement. The modular blockchain stack will mature, with specialized solutions for data availability, settlement, and execution layers. We expect to see enhanced infrastructure support for AI applications, decentralized computing networks, and social-financial integration. This evolution will enable more sophisticated applications while maintaining security and decentralization, creating a robust foundation for the next wave of blockchain innovation.

Closing Thoughts

The past year has demonstrated that sustainable growth depends not just on technological capabilities, but on meaningful user adoption and practical utility. With improved regulatory clarity, advancing technical infrastructure, and growing institutional participation, the foundations are in place for blockchain technology to achieve meaningful mainstream adoption. The focus now shifts from "what's technically possible" to "what's practically valuable" - a transition that will define the industry's next phase of growth in 2025.

___________________

About Footprint Analytics

November 2024 Chains Report: Historic Bitcoin Rally Leads Market-Wide Surge

Footprint Analytics — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 08:06:16 +0000

November 2024 Chains Report

Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Chains Research Page

November 2024 ushered in a transformative period for the blockchain ecosystem, highlighted by Bitcoin's historic surge past major traditional assets and Ethereum's span recovery. The sector witnessed notable shifts in market dynamics, with altcoins staging impressive rallies and Layer 2 solutions continuing their evolution. While Bitcoin Layer 2s maintained robust growth, Ethereum scaling solutions showed more modest gains amid increasing competition.

Monthly Market Overview

November marked a historic month for cryptocurrency as Bitcoin reached unprecedented heights, surging 39.0% from $69,386 to $96,427. Ethereum followed with an impressive 47.8% gain, climbing from $2,511 to $3,711. Bitcoin's remarkable performance pushed its market value past both silver and Saudi Aramco, securing the seventh position among global assets after briefly approaching the $100,000 milestone on November 23.
Source: BTC Price & ETH Price*

The U.S. election results emerged as a catalyst for crypto market growth, with potential implications for comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation and regulatory oversight. The market's optimistic response was particularly evident in the performance of memecoins, deAI (decentralized artificial intelligence) projects, and DeSci (Decentralized Science), which emerged as leading sectors.

The broader financial markets also showed strength, with the financial sector leading equity gains on expectations of tax reform and deregulation in the U.S. However, international markets saw some volatility, with the Chinese Yuan facing pressure amid concerns over potential U.S. tariff increases, while gold prices declined as election-related uncertainty diminished.

Layer 1

November 2024 saw total blockchain market capitalization surge 41.1% to $2.8 trillion. While Bitcoin maintained dominance at 68.1% share, this marked a decline from October's 70.1% as altcoins gained momentum. Ethereum reversed its downward trend, reaching 15.9% market share (up 0.6%), while Solana overtook BNB Chain with 4.0% share.

Against Bitcoin's continued price records, altcoins demonstrated exceptional performance. Stellar (XLM) led with a 466.8% price increase, followed by Hedera (HBAR) at 269.7%, Cardano (ADA) at 201.5%, and Polkadot (DOT) at 130.7%.

Source: Chain Token Market Cap and Price*

Stellar's surge notably reflected growing interest in its cross-border remittance infrastructure and CBDC capabilities, potentially influenced by expectations of clearer regulatory frameworks following U.S. election outcomes, though recent returns may also reflect specific fund flows.

The DeFi sector's TVL grew 43.0% to $90.8 billion throughout November. Ethereum led this growth with a 61.6% increase, while Tron and Solana secured second and third positions respectively. While most top 15 chains by TVL showed gains, Polygon declined 5.9% as Polymarket experienced outflows following the U.S. Presidential election conclusion. TON continued its downward trend since October as momentum from Telegram gaming and meme activity diminished.

Source: Chain TVL Ranking*

Move-stack blockchains maintained their span trajectory, with Sui reaching new all-time highs in both token price and market cap while securing a strategic partnership with Franklin Templeton. Aptos drove increased on-chain activity through its meme-launching platform Emojicoin, while Movement approached its mainnet launch with impressive testnet metrics: over 6.6 million accounts and 153 million transactions according to Movement Explorer.

The stablecoin landscape saw significant developments with USDS launching on Solana as its first major DeFi-native stablecoin, while Ripple reportedly neared NYDFS approval for RLUSD. Amid growing stablecoin influence, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino addressed industry concerns by confirming the company would maintain chain neutrality rather than launch its own blockchain.

Bitcoin Layer 2 & Sidechain

November 2024 saw Bitcoin Layer 2s and sidechains achieve significant growth, with total TVL reaching $2.4 billion, a 34.6% increase from October. The ecosystem witnessed intensifying competition for Bitcoin liquidity among major platforms.

Core strengthened its market leadership, growing 55.7% to reach $894.5 million TVL and expanding its market share to 37.4%. This growth was driven by November's Fusion Upgrade, which introduced Dual Staking and Liquid Bitcoin Staking (LstBTC), enabling users to earn enhanced yields while maintaining liquidity within Core's BTCfi platform.

Bitlayer maintained the second position with $583.3 million TVL, though its market share decreased to 24.4%. BSquared showed impressive momentum, climbing to third place with $260.8 million TVL after a 53.1% monthly increase, while Rootstock moved to fourth position with $237.8 million TVL.

Source: Bitcoin Scaling Solutions TVL*

In the BTCfi protocol landscape, Pell Network emerged as the clear leader with $399.7 million TVL, followed by span performances from Avalon Finance (Bitlayer and Core) and DeSyn (Bitlayer) across multiple chains, each maintaining over $200 million in TVL.

Ethereum Layer 2

November 2024 saw Ethereum Layer 2 solutions reach $27.5 billion in total canonically bridged TVL, marking a modest 2.0% increase from October and continuing to lag behind Bitcoin scaling solutions' growth rate.

Source: Ethereum Layer 2 Overview- Rollups (Canonically Bridged)*

Arbitrum One maintained its leadership with $11.3 billion TVL and 41.0% market share, while Base surpassed Optimism to claim second position with $5.1 billion TVL and 18.6% share, driven by increased activity from Clanker, the social meme deployment platform based on Farcaster, and AI agents creation and deployment platform Virtuals Protocol's memecoin initiatives. Optimism settled at 17.3% market share.

Starknet moved ahead of Blast to secure fourth position with a 5.1% TVL increase, while Blast continued its decline with a 14.5% decrease. Starknet's growth coincided with its November 26th STRK staking launch announcement and CEO Eli Ben Sasson's promise of significant performance improvements over the next quarter. Meanwhile, World Chain showed remarkable growth with a 131.4% TVL increase to $574.5 million.

The Ethereum Foundation strengthened its ecosystem commitment by releasing its 2024 Report outlining core values and funding strategies. Vitalik Buterin emphasized Ethereum's future development, including DAS implementation for enhanced Layer 2 scalability and infrastructure improvements to support diverse applications from ENS to consumer payments.

Web3 Gaming

In November, active blockchain games increased 4.6% to 1,696, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum maintaining their market leadership in game distribution at 20.9%, 15.4%, and 13.4% respectively.

The user engagement landscape saw significant shifts, with opBNB, Ronin, and Nebula (SKALE) leading at 1.8 million, 0.9 million, and 0.4 million average DAUs. OpBNB's 46.1% DAU growth was driven by SERAPH: In The Darkness and MEET48, along with successful project migrations from BNB Chain. Meanwhile, Ronin showed span recovery, doubling its DAU to 1.2 million through the launch of Fableborne and Lumiterra's expansion.

Source: Daily Active Users by Chain*

Telegram-based gaming presented mixed results. While TON's ecosystem struggled with a 41.9% decline to 116.4K DAU, Sui bucked the trend with a 23.1% increase to 233.3K DAU, largely attributed to BIRDS' success and notable user retention metrics.

Source: BIRDS Weekly New User Retention*

For more data insights, see the November 2024 Web3 Game Report: Bull Market Meets Adoption Hurdles.

Investment & Funding

November 2024 recorded 12 funding events in the blockchain sector totaling $79.8 million, marking a 23.3% decrease from October and the lowest monthly figure since August. Five of these events did not disclose their funding amounts.

Chain Funding Events in November 2024 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info）

Zero Gravity Labs (0G Labs) emerged as the month's largest funding recipient, announcing a $40 million seed round plus a $250 million token purchase commitment. The company has pivoted from its initial focus as a modular blockchain provider to position itself as a crypto-AI startup, developing a decentralized AI operating system (dAIOS) for building AI applications on-chain.

Several Layer 1 blockchains secured funding during the month, including Cytonic, Pharos, Talus Network, EtraPay, and Datalayer. Notably, AvaCloud, the managed blockchain service provider built by Ava Labs, acquired EtraPay, gaining both a team of renowned privacy technology experts and an innovative encrypted token standard, the Encrypted ERC (eERC).

The Layer 2 ecosystem saw continued investment activity, with six projects securing new funding rounds, including Bitcoin Layer 2s Bitfinity and Lnfi Network, Ethereum Layer 2s Heurist and Corn, and other Layer 2s Akave and AgentLayer.

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About Footprint Analytics

Footprint Analytics is a comprehensive blockchain data analytics platform that simplifies complex analysis for businesses and projects in the Web3 ecosystem. It offers tailored solutions that eliminate the need for extensive expertise and infrastructure maintenance. The platform provides long-term growth tools designed to help build and manage communities step by step, emphasizing sustainable growth and user loyalty. By combining powerful analytics with community management tools, Footprint Analytics enables projects to leverage blockchain data effectively for decision-making and growth strategies across various sectors including GameFi, NFT, and DeFi.

Website | X(Twitter) | Growthly | Reports | Blog | Telegram | Discord

November 2024 Web3 Game Report: Bull Market Meets Adoption Hurdles

Footprint Analytics — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 09:26:52 +0000

November 2024 Web3 Game Report

Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Games Research Page

November 2024 marked a transformative period for Web3 gaming, characterized by substantial market growth and evolving adoption strategies. As Bitcoin surged to unprecedented levels and approached the $100,000 milestone, the gaming sector saw its market cap surge 79.1% to $35.1 billion. While traditional metrics showed impressive growth, with daily active users reaching 5.5 million, the industry continued to grapple with fundamental questions about blockchain integration and mainstream adoption. This report examines the month's key developments across market performance, chain dynamics, and emerging trends in social platform integration.

Monthly Market Review

The U.S. election results emerged as a catalyst for crypto market growth, with potential implications for comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation and regulatory oversight. The market's optimistic response was particularly evident in the performance of memecoins, deAI (decentralized artificial intelligence) projects, and DeSci (Decentralized Science), which emerged as leading sectors.

The broader financial markets also showed strength, with the financial sector leading equity gains on expectations of tax reform and deregulation in the U.S. However, international markets saw some volatility, with the Chinese Yuan facing pressure amid concerns over potential U.S. tariff increases, while gold prices declined as election-related uncertainty diminished.

Overall Web3 Game Market

Blockchain game tokens experienced substantial growth in November amid the broader crypto market rally, with their market cap surging 79.1% from $19.6 billion to $35.1 billion.
Source: Web3 Games & Bitcoin Market Cap

The sector's daily trading volume reflected similar momentum, increasing 79.4% to reach $11.9 million.
Source: Web3 Game Daily Trading Volume

Daily active users hit another record in November, reaching 5.5 million average DAUs, a 15.7% increase from October. This growth was primarily driven by sustained user engagement on opBNB and continued strength in Ronin's ecosystem.
Source: Web3 Game Daily Active Users

Transaction metrics reveal a more complex picture. While daily transactions averaged 15.3 million (up 3.3% from October), the daily transactions per user ratio declined from 3.131 to 2.810. With total monthly transactions holding steady at 460.4 million, the data suggests new users may be engaging less intensively with blockchain features than earlier adopters.
Source: Web3 Game Daily Transactions

The evolving approach of games like Off The Grid represents a crucial inflection point for the industry. By positioning itself as a traditional game with optional blockchain elements rather than an "NFT game," it reflects a growing recognition that mainstream adoption may require a more nuanced integration of blockchain technology. This strategy - making blockchain features optional and "invisible" - could help overcome the initial resistance many gamers have toward crypto, but it also raises fundamental questions about blockchain's role in gaming.

The technical challenges facing fully on-chain gaming remain significant. Current blockchain infrastructure struggles with the demands of real-time gameplay, competitive matchmaking, and the high-throughput requirements of modern gaming. While Layer 2 solutions and purpose-built gaming chains are emerging, the gap between traditional gaming performance expectations and blockchain capabilities continues to influence development strategies.

Despite the current bull market providing favorable conditions for growth, the Web3 gaming sector has yet to produce its defining breakthrough moment. The industry appears to be at a crossroads between maintaining crypto-native appeal and achieving mainstream adoption, with successful projects likely needing to balance both aspects while technical infrastructure catches up to ambition.

Web3 Game Chains

Active games across blockchain networks reached 1,696 in November, marking a 4.6% increase from October. The established market leaders maintained their dominance in game distribution, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum commanding shares of 20.9%, 15.4%, and 13.4% respectively.
In terms of user engagement, opBNB, Ronin, and Nebula (SKALE) emerged as the leading networks with average DAUs of 180.9 million, 0.9 million, and 0.4 million respectively.
Source: Daily Active Users by Chain

opBNB's momentum continued with a 46.1% increase in average DAU from October. This growth was primarily driven by flagship titles SERAPH: In The Darkness and MEET48, while the platform also benefited from projects migrating from BNB Chain.

Ronin demonstrated remarkable recovery, doubling its DAU from 0.6 million to 1.2 million throughout November, bolstered by new partnerships and the successful launch of Fableborne alongside Lumiterra's growing user base.

TON's ecosystem faced challenges with a 41.9% decline to 116.4K DAU, highlighting the retention challenges in Telegram-based games. But the industry always has some exceptions. Sui's average DAU in November was 233.3K, 23.1% increased from last month. The Telegram game BIRDS has contributed most of the user base, with average DAU 224.9K, and its weekly new user retention is one of the industry-level examples.
Source: BIRDS Weekly New User Retention

Despite these successes, the Web3 gaming industry continues to evolve amid ongoing debates about optimal infrastructure. November saw the emergence of new gaming-focused chains, with major players expanding into chain development. Yield Guild Games (YGG), one of the largest Web3 gaming guilds, launched its Studio Chain, marking its evolution into infrastructure development.

Meanwhile, B3 introduced its Open Gaming Layer, with Prime Chain announced as its first implementation. Developed by Echelon Prime Foundation, Prime Chain will power Parallel, the ambitious sci-fi card game, demonstrating the growing trend of purpose-built gaming infrastructure. Rather than adapting to existing blockchain limitations, gaming projects and developers are now building chains tailored to their specific gaming needs.

Web3 Games Overview

By the end of November, the blockchain gaming universe encompassed 3,602 games, with 1,361 maintaining active engagement. Of these, 298 games attracted over 1,000 monthly active users (MAU), representing 21.9% of active games.
Source: Monthly Active Web3 Games

Analysis of Telegram gaming metrics reveals a significant disparity between platform users and blockchain engagement. As of November 30, while Hamster Kombat ranked 2nd in Telegram gaming with 26.2 million MAU, it recorded only 736 on-chain users. Even MemeFi, which achieved the highest conversion rate among the top 10 games, saw just 7.96% of its users engaging on-chain, with 1.4 million TON users. Source: Telegram Games MAU & On-chain MAU on TON

The success of Telegram's gaming ecosystem, despite these conversion challenges, is catalyzing a broader movement among social media platforms. Line, the dominant messaging platform in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia, has announced plans to launch 30 mini dApps by January's end, expanding to 150 by the end of Q1 2025. Gaming applications will form the largest segment of these releases on the Kaia blockchain, alongside social and DeFi applications.

Meanwhile, Solana-based project Sonic X has surpassed 1 million KYC-verified users through TikTok integration. The platform's success stems from its seamless onboarding process. Users can access games directly through their TikTok accounts while Solana wallets are created automatically in the background. This achievement demonstrates TikTok’s potential as a gateway to Web3 gaming.

Investment and Funding

In November, Web3 gaming secured $73.6 million across 18 funding events, marking a 22.3% decrease from October despite having five more events. Eight of these events did not disclose their funding amounts.
Web3 Gaming Industry Funding Rounds in November 2024 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info）

Monkey Tilt led the month's funding with a $30 million Series A round led by Pantera Capital. The platform, which combines gaming and entertainment with gambling features, has achieved $200 million in monthly betting volume since its March launch. The platform includes social features like in-game chat and user-to-user donations, though it remains unavailable in major markets like the US, UK, and Australia due to regulations. The gambling sector saw continued interest, with FanDuel, BRKT, and BoxBet also securing funding, despite regulatory challenges.

In other notable funding news, Animoca Brands contributed an additional $10 million to Mocaverse, building on previous investments of $31.88 million. The investment includes a warrant for MOCA Coin tokens at an implied $1 billion fully diluted value, supporting Mocaverse's development of interoperable infrastructure for mainstream crypto adoption.

October 2024 Chains Report: Bitcoin Sets Pace While Layer 2 Battle Intensifies

Footprint Analytics — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 03:35:54 +0000

October 2024 Chains Report

Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Chains Research Page

Exactly 16 years after Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper on October 31, 2008, Bitcoin once again demonstrated its revolutionary impact on the financial world. October 2024 saw Bitcoin approach its all-time high amid span institutional adoption, while the broader blockchain ecosystem continued its rapid evolution. The month highlighted stark market divergence, with Bitcoin's 15.9% surge overshadowing Ether's modest gains, as Layer 2 solutions across both networks matured and expanded. Meanwhile, emerging chains like Sui gained momentum through innovative approaches to user acquisition and ecosystem development.

Monthly Market Overview

October 2024 marked a period of notable market divergence, with Bitcoin leading the advance while other cryptocurrencies showed more restrained gains. Bitcoin demonstrated exceptional strength, climbing 15.9% from $60,764 to $70,398, touching $72,751 on October 29, near its March all-time high. Meanwhile, Ether charted a more modest trajectory, gaining 2.7% to close at $2,519.
Source: BTC Price & ETH Price

Several macroeconomic factors shaped market dynamics during the month. Global currency movements, particularly the strengthening U.S. Dollar against major currencies including the Chinese Yuan, influenced crypto market flows. This shift occurred against a backdrop of rising bond yields and increasing gold prices, reflecting evolving risk perceptions in global markets.

Political considerations increasingly shaped market sentiment as the approaching U.S. elections emerged as a significant market driver. Bitcoin's gains accelerated as investors positioned themselves ahead of potential policy shifts, with markets carefully weighing the implications of different electoral outcomes for digital asset regulation and broader financial policy.

Institutional engagement remained a key market driver, evidenced by substantial inflows into Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs). This trend highlighted growing institutional comfort with digital assets as a strategic investment vehicle, even as selectivity in positioning became more pronounced.
Regulatory developments continued to impact the market landscape. A landmark FBI investigation involving the creation of NexFundAI token led to charges against three cryptocurrency companies and 15 individuals for market manipulation. Meanwhile, Crypto.com's legal challenge against the SEC highlighted ongoing tensions between industry players and regulators, particularly regarding the "regulation by enforcement" approach.

Layer 1

October 2024 saw blockchain cryptocurrencies' total market cap rise 6.7% to $2.0 trillion, with Bitcoin strengthening its market dominance to 70.1%, up from September's 67.3%. Meanwhile, Ethereum's share continued its decline, dropping from 16.8% to 15.3%, while BNB Chain and Solana maintained relatively stable positions at 4.2% and 4.0% respectively.
Source: Chain Token Market Cap Share

The market's growth was primarily driven by span performances from established tokens, with Bitcoin leading the charge alongside notable gains from BitcoinCash (12.9%) and Litecoin (9.5%). Solana maintained its position as one of the spanest performing altcoins with a 17.6% increase, while emerging blockchain Sui continued its upward trajectory with an 11.5% gain.
Source: Chain Token Market Cap and Price

Sui's ascent to 11th place in market cap rankings. Leveraging opportunities in memecoin trends and Telegram-based gaming, Sui significantly expanded its DeFi ecosystem. The launch of Circle's native USDC on Sui in October marked another milestone in its development. However, this growth wasn't without controversy - allegations of "$400M in token sales by Sui insiders" emerged, and while denied by the Sui Foundation, sparked community debate.

The DeFi sector faced headwinds in October, with total TVL decreasing 6.8% to $63.5 billion. While the Bitcoin ecosystem showed strength, Ethereum's DeFi landscape underperformed. A notable exception was Polygon, which saw a 30.3% TVL increase, primarily driven by Polymarket's record-breaking performance as U.S. Presidential election speculation intensified.
Source: Chain TVL Ranking

Stablecoins continued to demonstrate their crucial role in the crypto ecosystem. Bitwise Research's Q3 2024 Crypto Market Review revealed that global stablecoin transactions exceeded $5.1 trillion in the first half of 2024, approaching Visa's $6.5 trillion volume. Tether's profitability surpassing BlackRock's highlighted the sector's financial impact, intensifying competition among chains to secure stablecoin listings on their platforms.

Bitcoin Layer 2 & Sidechain

October 2024 marked another month of robust growth for Bitcoin Layer 2s and sidechains, with total TVL reaching $1.8 billion, a 22.2% increase from September.

Core maintained its sector leadership, growing 29.8% to reach $574.6 million TVL and commanding a 32.4% market share. Bitlayer strengthened its position with a 36.1% increase to $530.5 million TVL, holding 29.9% of the market. Rootstock secured third place with $179.7 million TVL and 10.1% market share, while BSquared emerged as a span contender, surpassing Merlin Chain to claim fourth position with $170.3 million TVL, representing a remarkable 54.4% monthly increase.
Source: Bitcoin Scaling Solutions TVL

October witnessed significant technological breakthroughs in the Bitcoin Layer 2 ecosystem. BEVM introduced its innovative "Super Bitcoin" framework, presenting a comprehensive approach to expanding Bitcoin's capabilities while maintaining its fundamental security.

The framework proposes a five-layer architecture with Bitcoin's network as the foundation, utilizing its proven PoW consensus for security. Building upward, it incorporates Lightning Network technology for efficient communication, Taproot Consensus for standardization, and a multi-chain fusion layer supporting various virtual machines. This architecture culminates in an application layer that enables developers to build DApps while leveraging Bitcoin's security.

In a significant move bridging Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems, BOB network announced its integration with Optimism's "Superchain." As a self-described "hybrid layer-2" solution, BOB aims to create seamless connections between Bitcoin and Ethereum, positioning Bitcoin at the center of the DeFi landscape.

Cross-chain functionality saw further advancement with Cardano's integration with BitcoinOS (BOS). This partnership aims to provide Cardano users direct, trustless access to Bitcoin liquidity.

Besides, BTCFi continued its impressive growth trajectory, highlighted by Babylon's Bitcoin staking program Cap-2. The program demonstrated remarkable efficiency, attracting 23,000 Bitcoins while incurring minimal fees of just 1.56 BTC. This successful deployment showcases the growing appetite for Bitcoin-based financial products.

Ethereum Layer 2

October 2024 saw modest growth in Ethereum Layer 2 solutions, with total canonically bridged TVL reaching $19.8 billion, a 1.2% increase from September - notably lagging behind the growth rate of Bitcoin scaling solutions. The competitive landscape continued to evolve, with established leaders maintaining dominance while newer entrants gained ground.

Market leaders Arbitrum One and Optimism maintained their positions with 45.3% and 17.8% market share respectively, though both experienced slight decreases. Base emerged as a notable growth story, expanding its market share from 8.1% to 13.4% with a 28.5% TVL increase. This growth was largely attributed to Coinbase's smart wallet implementation, which streamlined dApp interactions and attracted substantial inflows across lending, derivatives, and DEX protocols. Aerodrome, Base's native DEX, played a particularly significant role in this expansion.
Source: Ethereum Layer 2 Overview- Rollups (Canonically Bridged)

Several new entrants made notable impacts. Fuel Ignition and World Chain saw substantial TVL growth following their mainnet launches, while Taiko's TVL increased by 20.8%, driven by the success of Panko Finance and Avalon Finance.

However, Scroll's experience offered a cautionary tale - following its airdrop launch, TVL dropped 39.6%. The airdrop faced community criticism over distribution plans, and like previous cases with zkSync and Starknet, activity declined significantly post-airdrop, with its token price falling over 50% from launch.

Beyond market metrics, October saw increased focus on fundamental ecosystem challenges, particularly regarding user experience and interoperability.

Vitalik Buterin took an active role in addressing community concerns, publishing a series of comprehensive articles examining Ethereum's future directions. His writings particularly emphasized cross-Layer 2 interoperability as a crucial development priority. The proposed roadmap outlines improvements aimed at unifying the Ethereum ecosystem through standardization of chain-specific addresses, unified payment request systems, and integration of keystore wallets across Layer 2s. These enhancements are designed to streamline cross-chain asset transfers while reducing gas costs for cross-Layer 2 transactions.

Despite ongoing challenges, Ethereum's Layer 2 ecosystem continued to attract significant projects and developments. October saw several notable mainnet launches. World Network (formerly Worldcoin) went live, bringing its privacy-focused identity solution to mainnet. ApeChain by Yuga Labs launched, leveraging Ethereum's security for NFT-focused applications, while Eclipse and Fuel Ignition completed their mainnet deployments, adding new scaling solutions to the ecosystem.

A significant development came from Uniswap Labs, which unveiled its plans for Unichain, a new Layer 2 network built on Optimism's OP Stack. The announcement generated considerable industry discussion, given Uniswap's dominant position in decentralized exchange protocols. Following the path of major players like Coinbase's Base and Sony's Soniem, Unichain's testnet launch signals a potential shift in Layer 2 competition dynamics, particularly regarding liquidity and gas fee.
Unichain

Web3 Gaming

The blockchain gaming landscape saw 1,606 active games in October 2024, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum dominating game distribution. OpBNB led user engagement with 1.2 million average DAU, followed by Ronin (886.3K DAU) and Matchain (548.4K DAU).
Source: Daily Active Users by Chain

Matchain emerged as October's breakthrough story, surging from 78 daily users in September to 548.4K DAU through Telegram-based games. The chain peaked at 3.3 million users on October 12 before stabilizing around 614.8K by month-end, exemplifying both the potential and volatility of Telegram-based user acquisition strategies.

Sui and Core showed span growth, with DAUs increasing 105.1% to 189.5K and 75.7% to 108.5K respectively, both leveraging Telegram-based initiatives. Meanwhile, TON's DAU decreased 27.7% to 195.3K, though its pioneering Telegram-based strategy has inspired adoption across multiple chains including Sei, Ancient8, and Viction.

For more data insights, see the October 2024 Web3 Game Report: Record Users Meet Traditional Players.

Investment & Funding

October 2024 recorded 12 funding events in the blockchain sector totaling $104 million, marking a 40.1% decrease from September's $173.7 million. Three of these events did not disclose their funding amounts.
Chain Funding Events in October 2024 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info）

Privacy-focused blockchain project Nillion emerged as October's largest funding recipient, securing $25 million in a round led by Hack VC. The project's innovative approach to "blind computing" allows data processing without content exposure, enabling applications to collaborate while maintaining data privacy. This breakthrough technology positions Nillion at the intersection of privacy preservation and decentralized computation, addressing growing demands for secure data handling in Web3 applications.

TON maintained its funding momentum following September's $30 million investment from Bitget and Foresight Ventures. In October, TON secured additional funding from Gate.io.

Layer 2 solutions continued to attract investor interest across both Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems. Bitcoin Layer 2 platforms Bitlayer and B² Network successfully closed new funding rounds, while the Ethereum Layer 2 sector saw investments flow into innovative projects including Ithaca, Semantic Layer, Sophon, and LAYER.

______________

About Footprint Analytics

October 2024 Web3 Game Report: Record Users Meet Traditional Players

Footprint Analytics — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 09:48:25 +0000

October 2024 Web3 Gaming Report
Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Games Research Page

October 2024 showed mixed signals in Web3 gaming, with stable market performance amid broader crypto market gains. While Bitcoin surged 15.9% and approached its all-time high, gaming tokens' market cap held steady at $21.15 billion. Daily active users hit 5.3 million, driven significantly by Telegram-based games, particularly on chains like Matchain, Sui, and Core, which saw substantial user growth through Telegram game integration.

Several key developments shaped the month: traditional gaming giant Ubisoft launched its first blockchain game on Oasys, established players like VanEck's crypto fund backed Gunzilla Games' nuanced approach to blockchain integration, and significant funding continued to flow into the sector, exemplified by Azra Games' $42.7 million raise.

Monthly Market Review

October witnessed divergent performance across crypto markets, with Bitcoin demonstrating remarkable strength while other segments showed more modest gains. Bitcoin surged from $60,764 to $70,398, posting a robust 15.9% increase. Notably, Bitcoin reached $72,751 on October 29, approaching its all-time high of $73,104 set on March 14. In contrast, Ether's performance was more subdued, rising from $2,453 to $2,519, a modest 2.7% gain.
Source: BTC Price & ETH Price

The macro environment played a significant role in October's market dynamics. The U.S. Dollar appreciated while the Chinese Yuan weakened, potentially reflecting growing concerns about trade tensions and tariff risks. This currency movement coincided with rising bond yields and increasing gold prices, suggesting a complex shift in global risk perceptions and investment flows.

Institutional activity remained robust throughout the month, with Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) recording substantial net inflows. This sustained institutional interest, coupled with the notable divergence between Bitcoin's performance and other crypto segments, points to increasingly selective positioning by large investors.

Regulatory developments continued to impact the market landscape. A landmark FBI investigation involving the creation of NexFundAI token led to charges against three cryptocurrency companies and 15 individuals for market manipulation. Meanwhile, Crypto.com's legal challenge against the SEC highlighted ongoing tensions between industry players and regulators, particularly regarding the "regulation by enforcement" approach.

Overall Web3 Game Market

In October, the blockchain gaming sector showed mixed signals, with stable token valuations but notable shifts in user engagement patterns. The market cap of blockchain game tokens demonstrated resilience, moving marginally from $21.07 billion to $21.15 billion.
Source: Web3 Games & Bitcoin Market Cap

User engagement metrics painted a more dynamic picture, with daily active users (DAUs) reaching a new milestone of 5.3 million in October, representing an 11.3% increase from September. This growth was notably influenced by intense activity on Matchain during October 10-13, driven by the launch of four games within the Telegram ecosystem. The surge in Telegram-based gaming activities continues to reshape user acquisition patterns.
Source: Web3 Game Daily Active Users

Transaction metrics showed modest improvements, with average daily transactions reaching 9.3 million, a 2.1% increase from September. However, this growth rate lagged behind the DAU increase, with per-user transaction rates remaining consistent with September's levels.
Source: Web3 Game Daily Transactions

Trading volumes showed a slight contraction, with daily averages declining by 1.9% to 7.5 million.
Source: Web3 Game Daily Trading Volume

These metrics take on particular significance when viewed against the broader crypto adoption landscape. The State of Crypto 2024 report from a16z estimates current monthly active crypto users between 30 to 60 million, representing just 5-10% of the 617 million global crypto owners reported by Crypto.com in June. This stark disparity highlights a significant opportunity: converting existing crypto owners into active users. While Web3 gaming has long been viewed as a potential catalyst for mass adoption, its performance in the current market cycle suggests challenges in fully realizing this potential.

The question remains: how are builders in this sector adapting their strategies to bridge this engagement gap? The following sections will explore October's developments and innovations.

Web3 Game Chains

October's blockchain gaming landscape saw continued evolution in chain dynamics, with active games reaching 1,606, a modest 1.6% increase from September. The established market leaders maintained their positions in game distribution, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum commanding shares of 22.5%, 18.4%, and 13.6%, respectively.
Source: Active Games Shared by Chain

The DAU metrics revealed a shifting competitive landscape, with opBNB, Ronin, and newcomer Matchain emerging as the top performers. These chains recorded average DAUs of 1.2 million, 886.3K, and 548.4K respectively, holding market shares of 25.6%, 13.1%, and 11.2% by month's end.
Source: Daily Active Users by Chain

opBNB continued its impressive trajectory, posting a 10.5% increase in average DAU from September. This growth was notably driven by GombleGames and Alliance Games, which saw user increases exceeding 100% and 78% respectively. Interestingly, this growth aligns with BNB's strategic shift toward opBNB development, especially the gaming sector, while its Layer 1 experienced a 43.8% decline in average DAU.

Matchain, a decentralized AI blockchain focused on data and identity sovereignty that launched its mainnet in August, emerged as October's breakthrough story. The chain transformed from just 78 users daily in September to an average DAU of 548.4K in October, primarily driven by Telegram-based games like LOL, Jumper, and Digiverse. During October 9-13, Matchain's performance peaked with an average DAU of 2.0 million, reaching its highest point of 3.3 million on October 12. While the numbers experienced a significant drop afterward, they stabilized at around 614.8K in the last week of October. This dramatic surge from 78 to 548.4K DAU demonstrates both the potential and challenges of Telegram-based user acquisition: a pattern observed across the entire Web3 gaming industry as projects struggle to maintain the momentum of initial user influx.
Source: Daily Active Users by Chain - Matchain

Sui demonstrated span growth with a 105.1% increase in average DAU to 189.5K. This growth was driven by multiple Telegram-based projects: BIRDS, a memecoin and GameFi mini-app, and MemeFi, which notably shifted its token launch from Ethereum L2 Linea to Sui just weeks before the event. This strategic blend of memecoins and gaming appears to be Sui's approach to maintaining sustained user activity.

Core's average DAU rose 75.7% to 108.5K, supported by both traditional Web3 games like World of Dypians and Pixudi, and new Telegram-based initiatives. The "Talk-to-Earn" and "Tap-to-Earn" game TomTalk made a significant impact, accumulating over 1 million users on Core within a month. Core's strategy appears focused on long-term ecosystem development through span support, as evidenced by their collaborations with both TomTalk and Pixudi.

TON saw a 27.7% decrease to 195.3K DAU, reflecting post-TGE activity decline in several games. However, TON's pioneering success in Telegram-based user acquisition has sparked a broader industry trend. Beyond TON, multiple chains are now actively pursuing the Telegram ecosystem's user base. While Matchain, Sui, and Core have shown notable success, newer entrants including Sei, Ancient8 Chain, and Viction Chain are also implementing similar strategies.

Meanwhile, established chains faced their own challenges and opportunities. The Arbitrum gaming community faced internal challenges as concerns emerged over the $220 million Gaming Catalyst Program (GCP). A proposal to return the allocated 220 million ARB tokens to the treasury highlighted growing demands for operational transparency in gaming initiatives.

In contrast, Immutable zkEVM made a strategic move toward greater accessibility by removing its Deployer Allowlist and enabling Permissionless Deployment. Since its beta launch in March 2024, Immutable claims impressive growth, reporting over 2.5 million monthly active on-chain users in its first quarter of operation.
Immutable

Web3 Games Overview

By the end of October, the blockchain gaming ecosystem had 3,503 games, with 1,336 maintaining active engagement. These metrics remained stable, with 283 games attracting over 1,000 MAU, accounting for 8.1% of total games and 21.2% of active games.
Source: Monthly Active Web3 Games

The Telegram gaming phenomenon continued to shape the industry landscape, though with emerging challenges in sustainability. Hamster Kombat led the gaming mini apps with 51.9 million MAU as of October 31. However, the disparity between claimed users (300 million in August and September) and actual engagement, coupled with a 70% decline in token price from its all-time high post-TGE, suggests that projects face both opportunities and challenges in converting initial user interest into sustained participation.
Source: Top Telegram Mini Apps

October marked a significant milestone with Ubisoft's entry into blockchain gaming through Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles, launched on Oasys Layer 2 Home Verse on October 23. This tactical RPG, focusing on PvP battles and team assembly mechanics, represents a major traditional gaming company's strategic approach to blockchain integration.

A noteworthy development in the investment landscape came with VanEck's private crypto fund backing Gunzilla Games, following their previous investment in Parallel. Gunzilla's approach with Off the Grid, launched in early access on PlayStation 5 and Epic Game Store, exemplifies a nuanced strategy toward blockchain integration. Operating on their own blockchain Gunzilla (upgraded from an Avalanche Subnet to an L1), their explicit positioning - "not an NFT game" but rather a battle royale game with "optional NFT elements" - reflects a growing trend of making blockchain features complementary rather than central to gameplay, potentially offering a blueprint for mainstream adoption.
Off The Grid

This evolving approach to blockchain integration, particularly from established gaming companies, suggests a maturing market where the technology serves to enhance rather than define the gaming experience. This subtle shift might prove more effective in bridging the gap between traditional and Web3 gaming communities.

Investment and Funding

In October, the Web3 gaming sector demonstrated robust growth in investment activity, securing $94.6 million across 13 funding events, a significant 44.2% increase from September's figures. Four of these events did not disclose their funding amounts.
Web3 Gaming Industry Funding Rounds in October 2024 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info）

The month's standout funding event came from Azra Games, which secured $42.7 million in Series A funding. Led by Pantera Capital and supported by industry giants a16z crypto, A16Z GAMES, and NFX, this investment underscores the growing confidence in advanced mobile gaming experiences. Azra's vision for the "4th generation of mobile RPGs" represents a significant evolution in mobile gaming, promising console-quality experiences with open worlds, sophisticated camera systems, real-time battles, and extensive PvE campaigns. We see more investors are betting on the convergence of console-quality gaming experiences with mobile platforms, suggesting a shift in how Web3 games might be consumed.

The infrastructure sector also saw notable activity, with Alliance Games raising $5 million in Series A funding. Led by Animoca Brands and Asymm Ventures. Alliance Games' focus on AI-powered decentralized infrastructure addresses a critical need in the ecosystem, potentially democratizing access to advanced gaming technologies for developers of all sizes.

___________________

About Footprint Analytics

Footprint Analytics Brings Data-Driven Growth Solutions to Sei's Gaming Ecosystem

Footprint Analytics — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 06:27:51 +0000

Footprint Analytics is thrilled to announce the integration of its advanced growth tools and data-driven solutions with Sei, the first parallelized EVM blockchain. This initiative will empower gaming projects building on Sei with powerful user acquisition capabilities, particularly focusing on expanding their presence in the Telegram ecosystem.

Accelerating Gaming Growth on Sei

Sei has emerged as a revolutionary force in blockchain technology, achieving unprecedented performance with 380-millisecond transaction finality and 12,500 transactions per second. As the first parallelized EVM blockchain, Sei provides an optimal foundation for gaming projects demanding scalability and efficiency.

By leveraging Sei's unique optimizations, Footprint Analytics is deploying its comprehensive suite of growth tools, including the powerful Growthly platform. This integration enables developers to harness data-driven insights while accessing proven growth strategies that have delivered remarkable results across the Web3 gaming landscape.

Comprehensive Growth Solutions for Gaming Projects

For developers, our Quest SDK provides an extensive library of 90 ready-to-use templates designed for quick deployment and integration. This powerful toolkit streamlines the development process, allowing teams to focus on creating exceptional gaming experiences while our infrastructure handles user engagement and growth mechanics.

Marketing teams can leverage our AI-driven, no-code tools to amplify user growth by up to 3x. These intuitive solutions simplify campaign management and optimize outreach efforts, enabling marketers to execute sophisticated growth strategies without requiring technical expertise. Our platform automates key marketing processes while providing detailed analytics for continuous optimization.

Projects building on Sei can hit the ground running with immediate access to our Telegram ads mini app, reaching tens of millions of potential users. This turnkey solution enables rapid traffic generation and community building from day one, providing new projects with the momentum they need to establish a span market presence.

Proven Excellence in Web3 Gaming

Footprint Analytics has established itself as a trusted name in the gaming industry, working alongside leading organizations including Animoca Brands, Pebble (the Web3 arm of NHN Corporation), Ronin Network, and Sui Network. Our track record is exemplified by projects like Ton.AI, which acquired over 2.5 million new Telegram users within just three months using our infrastructure. These results demonstrate our ability to deliver exceptional value to gaming projects building on Sei.

Advancing the Future of Gaming

"By building on Sei's powerful infrastructure, we're taking a significant step forward in our mission to empower Web3 gaming projects with data-driven growth solutions," said Tony Zhang, Co-founder and CEO at Footprint Analytics. "The combination of Sei's parallelized EVM capabilities and our proven growth tools creates an unparalleled opportunity for gaming projects to achieve sustainable success."

Get Started

Gaming projects building on Sei can now access Footprint Analytics' comprehensive suite of growth tools and analytics solutions. Contact us to learn how we can help accelerate your project's growth and user acquisition.

About Sei

Sei is a Layer 1 that combines the advantages of Ethereum and Solana: the dominant development standard of Ethereum with the performance of Solana. The V2 update for Sei makes it the first parallelized EVM. Serving as a new scaling approach for the Ethereum ecosystem while achieving even faster speeds than Solana. Sei launched its mainnet in 2022 and has a growing ecosystem with key teams from Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, and others deploying. The team is backed by Multicoin, Jump, Coinbase Ventures, and many more.

Website | GitHub | X(Twitter) | Discord | Telegram

About Footprint Analytics

TRON is Now LIVE on Footprint Analytics

Footprint Analytics — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 02:44:21 +0000

We're thrilled to announce that TRON, one of the world's largest blockchain networks, is now integrated into Footprint Analytics!

This integration empowers Footprint users with comprehensive analytics tools to explore the vibrant TRON ecosystem, enabling developers, analysts, and blockchain enthusiasts to unlock valuable insights from on-chain data.

What is TRON?

TRON is a powerhouse in the blockchain space, known for its high-performance infrastructure and commitment to decentralizing the internet. With its impressive scalability and near-zero transaction fees, TRON has become a preferred platform for decentralized applications (DApps). Besides, TRON hosts one of the largest circulating supply of stablecoins across the globe.

Unlock New Analytics Capabilities

With TRON now live on Footprint Analytics, you can access comprehensive blockchain data and insights including:

Native TRX token metrics and market dynamics.
Detailed block and transaction analysis.
Network gas fee trends and patterns.

Whether you're analyzing tracking network growth, or studying transaction patterns, Footprint Analytics provides powerful tools to create insightful visualizations and extract meaningful data from the TRON ecosystem.

Start Exploring TRON Data

Getting started with TRON data analysis is straightforward on Footprint Analytics. You can begin exploring our pre-built TRON Overview dashboard.
Source: TRON Overview Dashboard

Or you can your custom analytics using our comprehensive dataset, which currently covers data from January 2023 onward.

For developers and enterprises looking to integrate TRON data into their applications, our robust API provides programmatic access to all TRON metrics and insights.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to enhance our TRON analytics capabilities and bring you deeper insights into one of the world's most dynamic blockchain ecosystems.
Experience the power of TRON data analytics - start exploring on Footprint Analytics today!

___________________
About Footprint Analytics

The Next Wave of Web3 Growth: From Data to Action

Footprint Analytics — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 09:34:22 +0000

The Web3 ecosystem faces a critical challenge: while blockchain technology continues to advance, user adoption remains limited. With only approximately 5 million active Web3 users compared to traditional social platforms' billions, the industry is actively seeking solutions to bridge this significant adoption gap.
But how can Web3 projects effectively reach and engage mainstream users?

The Data-Action Divide

While blockchain technology has made significant strides in recent years, many Web3 projects struggle to transform available data into actionable growth strategies. The challenge lies not in data availability, but in effectively leveraging this information to drive sustainable user adoption and engagement.

Telegram: The Emerging Bridge to Mass Adoption

Telegram has emerged as a potential catalyst for Web3 mass adoption, boasting 950 million users and an increasingly crypto-friendly ecosystem. The platform's recent introduction of mini apps has created a unique opportunity for Web3 projects to reach mainstream users.
Several factors make the current Telegram landscape particularly significant:

Vast User Base Potential: The stark contrast between Telegram's 950 million users and Web3's 5 million active users represents an enormous growth opportunity.
Proven Growth Model: The TON ecosystem has demonstrated that combining viral mechanisms with social distribution can effectively drive mass adoption. Beyond TON, multiple blockchain networks are now vying to capture users from the Telegram ecosystem, including Aptos, Sui, and Core. Major centralized exchanges (CEXs) are also aggressively competing for Telegram traffic, with Binance making notable moves by listing four Telegram and TON tokens in quick succession: Toncoin, Dogs , Hamster Kombat, and Catizen.
Market Timing: While the Telegram mini-app market remains relatively untapped, there are signs that the acquisition effect may be diminishing, as the same users might be cycling between projects. This suggests an urgent need for more sophisticated user acquisition and retention strategies.
Economic Considerations: User acquisition costs are expected to rise significantly as more projects enter the ecosystem, making early adoption crucial.

Growth Solutions Across Product Lifecycle

The emergence of Web3 growth tools has created a structured approach to product lifecycle management:

1. Launch Phase

The initial phase of any Web3 project presents unique challenges in gaining traction and building an initial user base. Launch-focused solutions provide access to substantial user traffic pools and offer fundamental community building mechanisms. These tools help projects overcome the critical "cold start" problem by providing immediate access to potential users and basic engagement frameworks. Key platforms in this phase include:

Galxe: A comprehensive platform for Web3 community growth and engagement, specializing in Web3 quests to jumpstart user acquisition.
Ton.AI: Provides targeted user acquisition based on sophisticated user labels and detailed user profiles, helping projects reach their ideal audience from day one.

2. Growth Phase

As projects begin to gain traction, they require more sophisticated tools for community engagement and user acquisition. This phase emphasizes scalable, automated solutions that can handle increasing user numbers while maintaining engagement quality. Several notable platforms serve this crucial stage:

Footprint Growthly: Offers intuitive no-code Telegram mini app solutions, enabling projects to build self-sustaining growth engines.
TaskOn: A Web3 task collaboration platform with an integrated loyalty system, enhancing marketing and operational efficiency.
Zealy: Specializes in gamified experiences through its quest- and task-hosting platform, incorporating loyalty systems for sustained engagement.

3. Maturity Phase

Mature projects face the challenge of optimizing their existing user base while continuing to attract quality new users. This phase requires sophisticated user segmentation and targeted engagement strategies. Advanced analytics and user behavior tracking become crucial for maintaining growth momentum. The market has responded with specialized platforms:

TaskOn and Zealy: Offer advanced loyalty systems with features like leaderboards and sophisticated user segmentation.
Footprint Growthly: Provides comprehensive user profiles and segmentation capabilities, combining on-chain and off-chain data analytics for deeper user insights.

4. Monetization Phase

The final stage focuses on converting established user bases into sustainable revenue streams. This phase requires sophisticated advertising systems and traffic monetization tools. Projects at this stage implement advanced revenue optimization strategies while maintaining user engagement and satisfaction. The focus shifts from pure growth to balancing user acquisition with revenue generation, requiring tools that can effectively monetize user activity without compromising the user experience.
Leading monetization solutions include:

Ton.AI: Focuses on sustainable revenue maximization through rich user profiles and improved traffic monetization.
Adsgram: A dedicated advertising platform optimized for Telegram mini-apps.
Telega: Provides specialized business advertising services within Telegram channels.

Future Outlook

As the Web3 industry matures, the role of growth tools in bridging the adoption gap becomes increasingly critical. The integration of data analytics with targeted growth mechanisms appears to be the emerging standard for successful Web3 projects.

Industry observers note that early adoption of comprehensive growth strategies will likely become a key differentiator as the space becomes more competitive.

Conclusion

The evolution of Web3 growth tools represents a crucial step toward mainstream adoption. As the industry moves from descriptive to prescriptive analytics, the ability to not only understand user behavior but also influence it through targeted mechanisms will likely determine which projects succeed in achieving sustainable growth.